yes, i got kicked in the butt by nano. by the end of november 2009, i only wrote 3478 words out of 50,200. lame, i know. been too busy with nyu and student teaching. always blaming those things...but i'm gonna graduate soon when the fall semester is over and i still have no idea what i'm doing job wise. there's that hiring freeze for new teachers in nyc. i still have my apt least till summer. so i'll probably have lots of time to write. try to substitute if i can get a license.

i'm still gonna work on this little mermaid retelling. afterwards, i'll probably either go into a little red riding hood retelling or lost little girl, book 2 of cat's nine.

gotten 18 rejections thus far and lots of no responses for DARK DREAMER (A CAT'S NINE NOVEL).

sigh. i really like this series too.

that's why every book i've written so far have been different. shows variety. if i continue to get rejections, i'll just query another book.

so nanowrimo is totally kicking my butt. yeah, such a bad idea to do this when i also have nyu courses and student teaching. so i hardly done any writing this november. i had planned on rewriting 'the little mermaid', between 50, 000 to 60, 000 words but i barely got anything out. in the beginning of the month, i wrote like 200 words total (for chapter 1). yeah, sad. today, i wrote about 400 words (prologue). on the right path. if i try to write the novel by november 30th, that means i need to write 5555 words a day. that's a lot. i've never written that much in one day. we'll see.

good luck to me.

so it happened again.  another 6 minute rejection through email.  tied for fastest ever.  at least, i got a response.  waiting really makes me restless.  anyways, i really hope someone likes my DD idea.  you don't really see a lot of ya books about cats out there.  werewolves, yes.  cats, no.  (unless there is something out there.)

so yesterday, i sent out another batch of query letters to agents.  all emails.  it's funny.  i got my first rejection of DD in 6 minutes.  i think that's the fastest rejection i've ever gotten.  not too sad though.  better fast than no reply at all.  i hate the waiting around.

i'm so stalled on the next book in the CN series.  i've only written the prologue and chapter 1.  it's just that i have my last semester of grad school (4 classes) and student teaching.  so i have other stuff to do than writing.

now back to reading Huckleberry Finn for class...

so i sent out 5 e-queries.  i'm crossing my fingers for interest. if none by next week, i'll send another batch out.

here's a tagline i created for DARK DREAMER:  move over witches, it's time for the cats to play with magic.

in other news, i can't believe football is here. go EAGLES!

so tonight, i finally finished the last chapter of Dark Dreamer, book 1 of Cat's Nine. 61 chapters. 361 pages. 78,500 words.

tomorrow i plan to go through the whole book and make revisions. lots of post-it notes i have to remind myself what i need to change or add.

after i'm done, i'm going to write query letters for this book. i haven't really been querying for awhile because during the summer, i was working hard on this book. crossing my fingers that i will find representation for my Cat's Nine series.

so now, i've written 5 books. none published. no agents.

1. jersey's girls
2. lucky lucy
3. bottled sunshine, empty jars
4. summer friends
5. cat's nine: 1. dark dreamer

one day, i hope to have all these published.

in non writing news, on tuesday, i start my last NYU semester. i'll also be student teaching at a high school. nervous. because previously, i was student teaching a 6th grade class.

i need sleep.

so far, prologue and chapter 1 are done for CN.
determined to do chapter 2 and/or 3 this weekend.
we'll see.

i want to do something, like watch a whole season of something.
i havent seen the past season of HEROES, so i might do that.
or GOSSIP GIRL.
i'm so way behind.


by the way, i'll be moving at the end of the month.

still looking for an agent...

revisions going well. not that bad. b/c SUMMER FRIENDS is too recent, i don't have any hate for what i've written so far. maybe later in the year when i reread it, i might have ideas for changes.

i can see my revisions getting done by this weekend.

then i will work on revisions for JERSEY'S GIRLS.


harder now, that i'm sick. yes, sick. sucks.

i used to write a lot of lyrics. i mean, really, a lot. but that was back in high school and college. i don't anymore. last one i wrote was back on may 29, 2006. that kinda makes me sad. this was before i became focused on writing novels. the earlier lyrics suck. but the latter ones are more like poems. so i like those better. i want to include them in my books, like in some sort of short stories/poems/lyrics collection. both LUCY LUCY and BOTTLED SUNSHINE, EMPTY JARS have at least one song i wrote.

it would be hard to get back into lyric writing. i would like to try though...when i have the time and the interest.

i finished the last chapter and epilogue for SUMMER FRIENDS today! the feeling of accomplishment. of course, that feeling won't last. i plan to rewrite the book into 3rd POV. that's a lot of work. i want to get it done by the end of march 2009. (going to NYU and student teaching at middle school will be distractions.)

i also want to rewrite JERSEY'S GIRLS.

i plan on working on some short stories since i haven't for a long time.

and i need to query more agents.

then in april 2009...new project! i've been working on this particular project since high school. (aug 2002). i'm excited for it.

so i was reading JERSEY'S GIRLS, the first book i wrote which i finished in Jan 2008. (one year ago!)

it sucked.

what was i thinking? it seemed as if i was trying too hard with my words.

tonight, i was trying to rewrite the first chapter. i had trouble and got a headache. i know there are some chapters im happy with. (the ones in the middle with the dates.) but the beginning just sucks, as well as others sprinkled throughout.

im embarrassed that i tried to submit this to agents. no wonder i got these rejections.

JERSEY'S GIRLS needs a massive rewrite.

i guess almost finishing my 4th book, my writing's gotten better. so of course, the first book would suck. it was my first attempt at writing. i was happy to even finish writing that thing.

goodnight, people. need to think this through.

yay, 2 more chapters!

(plus an epilogue but that shouldn't take too long)

4 more chapters...again. why? b/c i miscalculated my chapters. originally, somehow, i thought the book ends on the age 18. but it doesnt. it ends on age 19. i thought something was odd when i had too many events and too few summers towards the end of the book. i must have been blind b/c i had written it down originally in my outline that the book ends on age 19.

i miscalculated...and i was blind not to see it on my original outline.

so instead of 13 summers/chapters + new added chapter on thanksgiving
its 14 summers/chapters + new added chapter on thanksgiving

i need to write 4 more chapters in SUMMER FRIENDS. hopefully, i will get it done before the end of february so i can have time to rewrite the book...

if i have time, i would also like to rewrite my first book JERSEY'S GIRLS.

then hopefully in march 2009, i start my new book project that i've been working on since high school...

this weekend, i'm gonna send out more query letters for LUCKY LUCY...

hopefully in february, i will have laser eye surgery...


we will see.

as i write my ch 10, i am having difficulty. i guess it's because the focus of the chapter is not on Sam and Mandy (the main characters). the focus is on Mandy's sister. so i'm kinda bored with writing. i would rather skip over to ch 11 where the focus is back on my main characters. but ch 10 needs to be there. it's part of the story. hopefully, i get it done today. most likely, the chapter will be shorter compared to the other chapters but that's okay.


in other news...the super bowl. so the eagles arent in it. boo. i guess i would be rooting for the arizona cardinals, the team that beat my eagles. b/c they never won a super bowl in their long history, i'm rooting for them. i like sports curses/droughts being broken.

i get excited when i use up a pen and have the chance to throw it away. it happened today. its this feeling i get when i know i have used all the ink for writing, whether for my book or for college. its a feeling of accomplishment.

i can start a new pen now and use every drop of it.

i know. im weird.

i'm finally done with ch 9. going into the double digit chapters now! ch 10. as i look ahead, i realize i will have to do a dramatic revision of SUMMER FRIENDS. so far, i've been writing it in 1st pov. so you think, "hey, 1st pov, everyone does it." well, in my book situation, its difficult.

first of all, the first 3 books i wrote are in 3rd pov. im comfortable with 3rd pov. i think im good at it.

so i challenged myself when i started SUMMER FRIENDS. i wanted to try 1st pov for it. the problem is...in this book, the narrator ages from 6-18. i thought maybe i could write it in an 18 year old's voice looking back at each summer. you would think the voice would stay the same. except, i keep slipping. some parts of the writing sounds younger, while others older. its not coherent. and there are moments where i want my narrator to live in, not reflect on.

you may wonder, why not change the voice at each age? wouldnt that sound cool? yes, yes it would. but im having trouble, trying to age the narrator smoothly. and when i wrote the early chapters, i couldnt be as lyrical and descriptive like i usually do for my writing. if i did, i would sound more adult than child.

i want the lyrical descriptions. i want the smoothness.

so i've decided that after i finished writing my draft of the whole book in 1st pov, i will go back and revise it. 3rd pov. along the way, i can write in the descriptions i want.

i'll find another book project where i can use 1st pov. for now, its on hold.

its chinese new year. no more the year of the rat. too bad. (i was born in the year of the rat) it's the ox turn.

this freakin' sucks. stupid stupid stupid.

what's wrong with the eagles?

so im halfway through SUMMER FRIENDS. im now working on ch 8, the ch that changes the friendship between mandy (girl) and sam (boy). although mandy sees the change, not sam. boys boys boys.

it would be hard to concentrate (like always) when the eagles-cardinals game is on at 3pm. GO EAGLES!

i've been so freakin' lazy writing this novel. i keep playing DYNOMITE on yahoo. i watch tv. i play spider solitare.

...i remember back in november when i wrote like 5 chapters so fast because i was so excited to write the book. what am i doing wrong now? why am i not as excited? i need to get that excitement back. right now, i keep thinking about what i would be working on after finishing SUMMER FRIENDS. because working on a new project is always exciting. new characters, new stories, new ideas, new everything. a new project is like a new toy you want to play with all the time...in the beginning. then eventually, you get used to it, not as exciting anymore.

blah.